12 months

Happy Birthday to my precious, precious son! James, you have been such an amazing joy the past 12 months. You have enriched our lives and changed who we are forever. When James was born Dr. Phillips reminded us of the verse Psalm 127:3. I included this verse on James's birth announcement. As I reflect on the past 12 months I am overcome by how true this verse is. What grace our Father has to reward us, people who deserve no rewards, with such a wonderful blessing. To be this precious child's mother- thank you Lord for allowing Sweet Baby James to be in our lives, a blessing that I do not deserve, but one that I am overwhelmingly thankful for.

On to the 12 month update. James has such a precious personality. He is very curious and likes to take everything apart and put it back together. I think he is going to be just like his Daddy!! He is also so fast at figuring out how something works. You only have to show him once that a particular button makes his toy or book light up or play music and he's got it!

Words (these are really 12-13 months)

Mama

Dada

Daddy

Zack

Dado

Shoe

Cheese

Thank you

Tickle

Night-Night

Bath

Bye

Ball

MiMi

No-No

Uh-oh

Hey

Light

Side

He can also say Woof and Moo. He has done a Meow as well, but this one hasn't "stuck" yet.

Favorite activities:

Strolling with Lillie

Running in his walker

Kissing pictures of babies

Kissing himself in the mirror

Putting his blocks in his drum

Trying to play with Henry's dog bowl then shake his head no

Biting his bath toys

Playing with the Ball machine

Turning on and off the lights

Pulling up and taking anything he can of the table next to Daddy's chair

Playing with the phone and the remote

Snuggling with his blanket and sucking his thumb

Turning book pages

Putting anything and everything in his mouth

Playing with Shoes and putting his toys in Daddy's boots

I will save pictures from his "official" birthday party for a later post. He had a big celebration with all his family- including Grandpa all the way from New Hampshire- but that post is for later. His birthday fell on a Wednesday -but you still gotta try a little cake on your first birthday. Zack and I gave James his V-Tech train and some little cars and gave him his first try at a little birthday cake. Then K-Mama and Dado surprised us by stopping by to give James a Red Flyer Rocket from Papa and new super soft blanket from K-Mama and Dado. Please excuse my appearance in these photos- I had just come home from a very long and stressful state survey at one of my nursing homes. So excuse me and focus on Sweet Baby James!!

NEW POST BELOW AS WELL!! Christmas, Birthday Party, and Baptism to come!

Christmas at the Crawfords

So much blogging to do: Christmas, Birthday Party, Baptism, 12 month and 13 month update. I thought I'd start with a few pictures from our 1st Christmas celebration. Below are some pictures from our Christmas with Zack's Dad at Courtney and Scott's house. It was so much fun and we all enjoyed getting to spend time with Grandpa!

Grandpa!

The family photo

Uncle Zack and Sam

Max, James, & Baby Hattie

James and Sam

Mel & Sam

11 months

Why hasn't my mom updated this blog with my 11 month info?!?!?!?

11 month events:

Thanksgiving at Kmama and Daddo's- didn't want to nap so Baby James sat at the table and enjoyed dressing and sweet potato casserole

My 1st bonfire- when the bonfire lit up Baby James yelled "light", he wasn't fascinated for long though (see above picture)

Sat on Santa's lap- James was not so sure about Santa or Mrs. Claus for that matter- pictures to come

Words: Ball, Bye-Bye (this means bye-bye and car), Light, Daddo, Dada, Mama, TaTa (thank-you), Tickle, Side (outside), Night (has only said this a few times), Hey (yells this most every time the phone rings) Uh-Oh (syas this any time he drops or throws something) and his new favorite- NO NO

Animal sounds: Woof, Moo

Currently he enjoys shaking his head and saying no-no to everything- I do not enjoy this as much as he does

He had gotten very good with his sippy cup

He has recently started to walk pushing his walker toy

Favorite toys: light switch (he loves to turn on and off the lights), ball popper (he is knows how to push the red button to make the balls pop out), learning walker, drum with shapes (he throws it to open the drum and closes the top and loves to push the shapes in if we put them where they need to go), dinosaur ball pit, books with lights (I am amazed at how quickly he learns how to make the lights go off on his books)

Clingy is his middle name

He loves his blanket- the second he gets his blanket his thumb goes into his mouth (he will no longer take his paci)

We put up the christmas tree today and he loves it!!

James is such a joy, we are thankful everyday for the blessing of raising him!

Thanksgiving

Below are a few pictures from Thanksgiving 2009. The food and the company were both wonderful!

Our Little Tiger

We had a fun Halloween night with our little Tiger! We went to Zack's Mom's house for a festive evening complete with pumpkin shaped cheese balls, lots of yummy food, smoking punch, full-screen outdoor movie, fire-pit, smores, and much more.

James isn't big on hats so he didn't much like wearing the hood of his outfit. He did like how his soft his outfit was though- during dinner he kept resting his head on his arm and snuggling with his costume. So precious!

10 months

My baby is 10 months old!!!

What he's doing these days:

1) pointing

James is loving to point as of the past few days. He especially loves to point at fans and lights. He has also started chattering all the time- especially when pointing to said light fixtures. It sounds like he is saying "see that, see that, see that?"

2) clinging

All of the sudden my son who would go to anyone at anytime, has started to cling to me if someone wants to hold him. He also is starting to cry (aka pitch a royal fit) if I leave the room. On the same note- he loves his babysitter Lilly aka "Putt Putt (what she wants him to call her). He will, at times, cling to her if I want to take him :( But I am thankful that she loves him and he loves her- it is a huge blessing on the days I go to work to know he is happy!

3) bye-bye ing

Bye Bye is his favorite word. He says it anytime we leave in the car or go strolling. Did I mention when he went for his 9 month check up he greeted Dr. Wood with a big bye-bye? She informed him he didn't get away that easy. He is also associating cars with by-bye. Whe we read a book with a picture of a car he points and says "bye-bye".

Other words: Tickle, Mama, Dada, Ball, Dado, Hey Dare (says this when Zack comes home), Hello (says this as he holds his arm up to his ear like a telephone)

4) Reading

He is really loving lift and look books- especially his Peek-a-boo books. He also has a book "My first words" and he loves the pictures of the boy and girl, cat, dog, teddy bear, and car. He is starting to sit still for longer so it makes reading time a lot more fun.

5) No-ing

With crawling comes lots of "No No". After Remote controls and telephones, James is intrigued by cords and outlets. Now when he crawls past the outlet in the kitchen he shakes his head no as if to remind himself. Too funny!

6) Biting

Umm- a couple of days ago he started to enjoy biting- not good. Every time I try to brush his teeth (I usually use a washcloth as it seems (or used to seem) to work better than a tooth brush) he bites down with all his might. You also better watch your toes and legs if he is crawling.

7) Being the sweetest most precious baby- we love him so much!

Are you ready for some football?

Last weekend we went to see my nephew Will play football. Will's team, coached by his father I might add, won the game.....AND WILL SCORED A TOUCHDOWN!!! Baby James had so much fun- he enjoyed being a big boy and playing with all of his big cousins. Lucas and Ross were staying with my parents and baby James really enjoyed watching them. At one point James, my son who never sits still, stood still for about 30 mintues just staring at all the big boys in awe. It was too cute. Below are a few pictures from the big game.